We would not be so cruel to joke about these things to long-suffering Leafs fans, who have been forced to watch their heroes all but flush away an outstanding opportunity to reach the playoffs by losing eight consecutive regular-season games for the first time since 1985 — Wendel Clark’s rookie season.

Indeed, there remains a pulse in Randy Carlyle’s team, which recorded its first victory in three weeks thanks to a 3-2 triumph over Brian Burke’s Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.

No need to explain the irony there.

“It’s a relief, more for the team than for me,” said Clarkson, whose third-period goal proved to be the eventual game winner. “I can take (the criticism), but this is about the team.

“The biggest thing about scoring was that it helped the team win. Now we have to look ahead.”

Indeed, the Leafs had not been on the winning end of a hockey game in 19 days, a stretch dating back to a 3-2 decision over the 2012 Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Centre.

That was the same night goalie Jonathan Bernier left after one period with a groin injury.

At that time, there actually was chatter around town about Carlyle’s team vying for home-ice advantage in the first round.

My, how times have changed.

Granted, a victory over the Flames, the 26th-place team in the standings, is hardly reason to start planning a parade route along Bay St.

But, in this case, Carlyle, Dave Nonis and Co. will take anything they can get.

The Leafs now have 82 points in the standings with five games left. In order to reach the 92 point plateau — the total most observers figured would be required to qualify for the playoffs — Toronto will have to win out in home meetings with Boston and Winnipeg, followed by road dates in Tampa, Florida and Ottawa.

Of course, if those teams around them in the standings continue to fumble and bumble like they Tuesday night in the race (or should that be “crawl”?) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, maybe a 4-1 run will be good enough.

In Columbus, the Blue Jackets were held to just a single point by dropping a 3-2 overtime decision to the Avalanche. Meanwhile, in Washington, the Caps were humiliated 5-0 by the visiting Dallas Stars.

When all was said and done, the eighth-place Blue Jacket gained a single point to move to 83 points, one ahead of the ninth-place Leafs. Columbus does hold two games in hand over Toronto.

The victory over Calgary did allow Toronto to leapfrog the Caps, who now drop to 10th with 81 points. They have one game in hand on the Leafs.

“We still don’t (control our own destiny), but it’s a relief,” goalie Jonathan Bernier said of the long-awaited victory.

“The fans have been on us and they’ve had every right to. It’s been a long time between wins.

“Usually, we’re coming from behind and the guys start squeezing their sticks. That wasn’t the case out there tonight.”

With the Flames in town, of course, much of the buzz leading up to the game centred around the return of the bombastic Burke.

Back in 2012, then-Maple Leafs GM Burke compared his team’s 1-8-1 funk at the time to an “18-wheeler going right off a cliff.”

Two years later, Burke’s Flames had the opportunity to push this edition of the Maple Leafs closer to the edge, if not over the side.

But they couldn’t get it done.

Relieved of his duties as Leafs GM and president almost 15 months ago, Burke’s Flames came to the Air Canada Centre for the first time since he took over as Calgary GM.

You have to think Burke, deep down, wanted to badly see his Flames beat the franchise that axed him in January 2013.

But it was not to be.

STAJAN LIFTS SPIRITS WITH GOAL

Scoring a goal in the return to his home town will never take the sting away of losing his son.

No hockey game will ever do that.

But, at least on Tuesday night, playing in front of friends and family at the Air Canada Centre, Matt Stajan did have a chance to flash a rare smile after beating Jonathan Bernier to temporarily pull his Flames even with the host Maple Leafs 1-1.

The Leafs went on to beat the Flames 3-2, but at least Stajan gave the entourage of supporters waiting for him after the game something positive to talk about.

Back on March 3, he and wife Katie lost their first child shortly after his birth. The passing away of Emerson Stajan had a deep impact not just on the Stajans, but many throughout the league.

“It was nice to score,” the ex-Leaf said. “Of course, I would have traded it in for a win.

“It’s been a tough month, but it was enjoyable being back and seeing familiar faces. People have been great.”